Foundation episode 10 recap: clone wars and family reunions – TechRadar

Huge spoilers follow for Foundation episodes 1 to 10. Youve been warned.

Its been more than three years since Apple took a gamble and announced its TV adaptation of Isaac Asimovs Foundation book series. The complex nature of Asimovs seminal works led many to believe it was unadaptable and, given how much Apple TV Plus latest big-budget show has diverged from its source material, you could argue that those initial beliefs were correct.

About this episode

- Episode 10 (of 10), 'The Leap'

- Written by David S. Goyer

- Directed by David S. Goyer

The Leap Foundation episode 10s actual title seems allegorical, then, given the leap of faith that Apple took in greenlighting David S. Goyers small-screen adaptation. But its been justified, with Foundation growing stronger with each passing week.

Wrapping up a seasons worth of plot threads while also laying the groundwork for season 2 may have been difficult for Goyer and company to pull off. After all, plenty has happened across its multiple storylines. However, Foundation episode 10 does a great job at both, delivering last-minute shocks and glimpses into the shows future narrative arcs.

So whats the state of play on Trantor? The Leap picks up where episode 9 left off, with Brother Day, having returned from Maiden, meeting with Brother Dusk to discuss the fate of Brother Dawn and Azura.

The conversation is tense, with Dusk strongly advising that the pair should be killed for their crimes. He goads Day for leaving, too, but Day bats away Dusks thorny comments with relative ease.

Days mettle is tested more when he meets Dawn afterward. Playing the good and bad cop, Day removes Dawns handcuffs before chastising him for conspiring with the enemy. Dawn bites back saying its Cleon Is fault that is, his desire to create a clone army to rule the Galactic Empire long after his death for originally putting them in this unsolicited position.

Its a valid point. The themes of choice and fate have been revisited time and again throughout Foundation. While Dawn and Day wouldnt exist if they hadnt been created by Cleon Is cloning program, they clearly question their place in the universe based on what theyve experienced in season 1. They appear to be going through an existential crisis, which is unexpected for clones that dont possess free will or a soul.

All of this makes for a pretty emotional scene and, given that their shared screen time has been limited so far, its also enjoyable to see Lee Pace and Cassian Bilton trade barbs. It feels like an argument a father and son would have a point forced home by Dawns claim that hes longed to call Day his father, even though theyre both clones of the same man. If thats not an unsettlingly warped relationship, we dont know what is.

Instead of taking his frustrations out on Dawn or Dusk, its Azura who bears the brunt of Days pent-up anger later on.

Initially, Day walks a similar good cop, bad cop line with Azura as he did with Dawn, but it doesnt last. Mocking her about the so-called legacy shell leave behind, Day eventually reveals how hell punish her for her crimes: every person that Azura has ever known, including her family, friends, former lover and colleagues, will be killed. That amounts to 1551 innocent people! With a flick of Days wrist, the horrifying deed is done. Everyone Azura loved is wiped out in an instant upon her own death, then, her legacy dies with her.

Its an incredibly ruthless decision. Does the punishment fit the crime? In Days eyes, yes. And, as viewers, you can kind of understand his stance from a preserving the status quo perspective. Still, its extremely harsh and is a reminder of the totalitarian attitude of the Empires rulers.

As for Azura? Shes locked away, constrained by shackles to stop her from committing suicide, and sensory shrouded for the rest of her days. Oh, and shell be kept alive by an intravenous drip. So thats the last well see of her.

And yet that isnt even the biggest jaw-dropping moment to occur on Trantor. Two more big shocks arrive in this narratives last main sequence, both setting up some tantalizing plot threads to be explored in the future.

With Azuras fate sealed, its Dawns turn to face the music. Brought before his elder brothers, Dawn is told by Dusk that, due to his differences and transgressions, hed already be dead if it was up to Dusk. With Day presiding over the Empires key middle throne, though, itll be him that decides Dawns fate.

Astonishingly, Day reveals that Dawn will be allowed to live. Delivering his verdict, Day suggests that his Great Spiral walk and meeting with other pilgrims on Maiden (which we saw in episode 8) did leave a lasting impression on him. He also explains that Halimas doctrine a soul incapable of change is a soul doomed to stagnation and Hari Seldons take on a similar belief system earlier in season 1 have reshaped how he views the Cleonic dynasty. Change, as Day puts it, is a good thing and its time for the clones to embrace it.

Furious, Dusk blasts Day for destroying Cleons legacy, and egotistically claims that history should bow to them. The duo fight as Dawn cowers in Eto Demerzels arms. Its clear that Day, who was Brother Dawn in episodes 1 and 2, was deeply affected by events he saw in those entries, hence his empathetic stance towards Dawn.

Its a courageous stance to take but, ultimately, one that doesnt matter. As Day and Dusk row, Demerzel snaps Dawns neck, killing him instantly. As a stunned Day and Dusk watch on, she tells them that shes loyal to the Cleonic dynasty and, as such, their pure bloodline must be maintained. Dawn, then, had to die.

Shocking as it is, its the culmination of events that have festered for some time. Ironically, its Demerzels programming, rewired so that shes loyal to the Empire, that condemned Dawn to death. It also speaks to how much faith shes lost in Day after their Maiden trip. Symbolically, its representative of a father losing his son, too: we saw how familial Day and Dawns relationship was earlier in episode 10 and Days distress at Dawns death is further evidence of this.

Distraught, Day burns Dawns body using the Empires disintegration device, before Shadow Master Obrecht arrives with more bleak news.

As it happens, Azuras gang didnt just change Dawns genetic makeup they altered every clones DNA, meaning that Day and Dusk could also be impure. Enraged, Day destroys the original Cleons glass tomb, symbolizing the start of the Cleonic dynastys destruction. Meanwhile, Dusk wrecks Dawns part of the Empires mural, and Demerzel rips off her human face in anguish for what shes done, revealing her subsurface robotic makeup. Fault lines have formed in the Empires usually tight-knit group and they may never be the same again.

By contrast, things on Terminus couldnt be more harmonious. Following his release from the Vault, Hari Seldons digital construct tells the assembled Terminus, Thespis and Anacreon crowd (and viewers by extension) why the latter two have been at odds for thousands of years. Simply put, Cleons first clone Cleon II killed Anacreons grand huntress millennia ago and blamed it on Thespis king to pit the planets against one another. That, Hari explains, prevented both kingdoms from leading a revolution against the Empire, which maintained the latters hold on everyone they continue to rule.

Next, Hari explains why hes an AI construct of his former self. Its a pretty convoluted explanation but, basically, the night before Raych murdered him, he swallowed a pill that contained millions of tiny self-replicating machines (we see Hari ingest the pill in episode 2). Upon his death and ejection from the Foundations main ship, these machines rebuilt his body with synthetic and natural materials to turn him into a digital construct.

Foundation spoiler-filled recaps

Its a lengthy exposition dump, but its necessary to understand Haris master plan. He adds it was always his plan to unite Terminus, Thespis and Anacreon. Now that they have the Invictus, they can use it to trick the Empire into thinking that the planets wiped each other out. This means that theyll no longer concern themselves with whats actually happening on all three worlds. That, Hari says, means that the trio of planets are free of Imperial rule and they can start building a fleet of battleships to go to war with the Empire in the distant future.

Admittedly, its all a bit fanciful from a plot perspective. Clearly, Hari is a very intelligent man with the ability to foresee things: its psychohistory, after all, which hes studied extensively.

Not for the first time, though, Foundation installs him as some messianic figure whos 10 steps ahead of the Empire and, as such, his plan cant fail. That reduces the stakes somewhat leading into season 2 and beyond, then, as we know everything has already been mapped out by Hari. Of course, any future Seldon Crises could throw a wrench in the works. But, for now, its slightly absurd that one mans predictions hold the key to overthrowing a tyrannical dynasty thats ruled for centuries.

Regardless, inspired by Hari, the three races band together and, over the next few months, set his plan in motion.

For Salvor Hardin, though, questions remain. Having asked Hari about why hes been guiding her in her dreams before he returns to the Vault he has no answers for her Salvor is none the wiser about why shes special.

That is, until she has another vision months later. Salvor deduces that the two children shes seen in her visions are Raych and Gaal and, following a conversation with her mother Mari, realizes that she must be Raych and Gaals child. Back in episode 2, we watched Gaal put her embryo in cryostasis. After Gaal is jettisoned from the Foundations main ship during episode 2s finale, Mari ends up being a surrogate for Gaals embryo i.e. Salvor.

Salvor decides to search for Gaal to get answers about her abilities, but not before she has touching goodbyes with Mari and Hugo. Based on these farewells, you get the sense that Salvor may never see them again. And thats definitely the case, based on how Foundations season 1 finale ends.

Episode 10s final sequence reunites us with Gaal. Her stasis pod, which left the Raven spaceship in episode 7, touches down on Synnax and she uses a self-assembling canoe to sail back home.

Tragically, though, her entire village has been destroyed. As Gaal had predicted earlier in the season, Synnaxs rising oceans would destroy its inhabitants if they didnt change their habits, and thats what plays out. Its a poignant moment: much like Demerzel, it seems that Gaal is the last of her kind.

Or so she thinks. A light catches her eye beneath the surface and, swimming down, Gaal discovers another stasis pod with someone inside. Rescuing the unknown individual, she takes them topside with the view of waking them up.

The following night, the individual wakes up and recognizes Gaal. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the person who was in the pod is none other than Salvor, who explains that shes been asleep for over a century waiting for Gaal. She reveals that shes Gaals daughter and then, removing her blanket, that shes in possession of Haris Prime Radiant. She goes to hand it to Gaal but, after the camera switches to a wide shot, the screen cuts to black. If nothing else, its exciting to see two of Foundations main characters finally meet. And we suspect that their journey together will form a major part of Foundation season 2.

The Leap is an enthralling final entry in Foundations first season. It simultaneously puts a cap on the series most tantalizing storylines and lays the foundations for plot points still to come. For a show that makes a big deal about some of its characters abilities to see into the future, that latter aspect will only become increasingly more important in season 2 and beyond.

If the past 10 entries have taught us anything, its that every word uttered or action taken has a purpose to it. And, as a culmination of everything thats come before, Foundation episode 10 proves this to be the case. Everything in this show has a consequence, or a cause and effect, and thatll continue to be a key strength of Apples adaptation moving forward.

Itll be interesting to see where season 2 takes these characters and the direction that its plot goes in. Aside from a few key story elements, Foundation has fully diverged from the source material so much so that itll be difficult to relate back to Asimovs works in the future. Apple's adaptation has become its own thing at this point but, as it charts its own path forward, it remains to be seen whether thatll be a good or bad thing.

For now, Apple can take comfort in the fact that Foundations first season was an overall success. Lacking Hari and Gaals foresight, its impossible for us to determine where Foundation goes from here. And that, whichever way you look at it, is exciting.

Foundation will return on Apple TV Plus for its second season. No release date has been confirmed as yet.

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Foundation episode 10 recap: clone wars and family reunions - TechRadar